Effect of Law Review on BigLaw Hiring from T14? Forum

[Anonymous User]

At a T14 school, does getting law review give a cognizable edge, say, to the median student (assuming good interviewing skills) than a student with a secondary and/or no journal in big law hiring?

[Nagster5]

Yes. More for lit than for corporate.

[Fireworks2016]

Yes. More for lit than for corporate.

Is this really true? To me, all LR signals is an aptitude for finding small and inconsequential errors, which seems like an especially desirable Corp. skill.

[omar.comin]

Yes. More for lit than for corporate.

Is this really true? To me, all LR signals is an aptitude for finding small and inconsequential errors, which seems like an especially desirable Corp. skill.

Possibly true, but lit people seem to care much more about pedigree than corp people do. In lit, you need to run the rat race of LR, competitive AIII clerkship, and summering at a prestigious firm

[A. Nony Mouse]

Ostensibly LR signals writing ability, which matters more in lit than corp. (generally, LR requires you to succeed in a write-on and also write a competent note. In practice those things may not translate directly to legal writing but the idea is that being good at writing transfers to different contexts.)

[perfunctory]

Are employers aware that LR selection is part grades, part comp?

[cavalier1138]

Are employers aware that LR selection is part grades, part comp?

Yes. And they get to see your grades, so it's not like they wouldn't figure it out anyway...

[gatorade_potato]

Are employers aware that LR selection is part grades, part comp?

Yes. And they get to see your grades, so it's not like they wouldn't figure it out anyway...

It's not the same across the board at T14 schools, nor is it even the same within each individual school—LR selection is commonly split between part grades-only, part comp-only, and part hybrid score.

FWIW OP, I think it made a fairly significant difference for me as a median student going into OCI. I'm a good interviewer, but even considering that, I outperformed my numbers and I was 100% transactional. As others have said, it serves as a proxy for being at least a competent writer, and to a lesser extent, a willingness to take on additional boring, time-consuming work (a key aspect of success in biglaw).

[cavalier1138]

It's not the same across the board at T14 schools, nor is it even the same within each individual school—LR selection is commonly split between part grades-only, part comp-only, and part hybrid score.

Right. The point is that if you know you weren't selected for your grades, then the person reading your resume and transcript will probably also be able to figure that out.

[gatorade_potato]

It's not the same across the board at T14 schools, nor is it even the same within each individual school—LR selection is commonly split between part grades-only, part comp-only, and part hybrid score.

Right. The point is that if you know you weren't selected for your grades, then the person reading your resume and transcript will probably also be able to figure that out.

Yeah that's valid. I wonder if that pushes the needle in either direction if it's very clear that you made LR strictly based on comp vs. grades.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Are employers aware that LR selection is part grades, part comp?

This differs from school to school. The grades portion at my school was so minimal as to not really make a difference.

I'm sure whether it pushes the needle depends on the employer. Personally I'd favor someone who got in on writing ability but I'm pretty partial. But I'm not hiring for biglaw.

(I actually think LR is more valuable as a proxy for being willing to grind through tedious stuff you have no investment in than as a proxy for writing ability. But again, I'm not hiring anyone.)

[cron1834]

My impression is that it helps a little for general hiring (i.e. corp), helps more than a little for lit, and a helps a whole bunch for clerkship hiring. But all of this is true only if you stop using "cognizable" in everyday speech.